Discovering, describing and digitising CCTV: Challenges and attempts of making New York Chinatown’s community television archive accessible

Archives created by and of ethnic minority groups play an important role in the preservation of cultural heritage. However, making such archival materials effectively and openly accessible is not straightforward, not least due to language barriers and the limitations of digitisation. Using the case of a Chinese American audiovisual collection housed at New York University, this article demonstrates the challenges associated with making a historically important archive more visible and accessible. As the article will show, digitisation does not necessarily lead to immediate accessibility. The article discusses ways to elevate archive visibility and accessibility, not simply through technical workflows but also outreach campaigning. Thoughts on granting more open access to ethnic minority archives are also included.